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A Beautiful Mind

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A Beautiful Mind

By: Sylvia Nasar
Narrated by: Anna Fields
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About this listen

This is the powerful, dramatic biography of math genius John Nash, who overcame serious mental illness and schizophrenia to win the Nobel Prize. This book is the inspiration for the Academy Award-winning film starring Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly and directed by Ron Howard.

“How could you, a mathematician, believe that extraterrestrials were sending you messages?” the visitor from Harvard asked the West Virginian with the movie-star looks and Olympian manner. “Because the ideas I had about supernatural beings came to me the same way my mathematical ideas did,” came the answer. “So I took them seriously.”

Thus begins the true story of John Nash, the mathematical genius, who was already a legend by age thirty, when he slipped into madness, and who—thanks to the selflessness of a beautiful woman and the loyalty of the mathematics community—emerged after decades of ghostlike existence to win a Nobel Prize for triggering the game theory revolution.

The inspiration for an Academy Award–winning movie, Sylvia Nasar’s now-classic biography is a drama about the mystery of the human mind, triumph over adversity, and the healing power of love.

©1998 Sylvia Nasar (P)1999 Blackstone Audio, Inc. History History & Philosophy Mathematics Mental Health Professionals & Academics Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Schizophrenia & Psychotic Disorders Science Science & Technology Health

Critic Reviews

"A Beautiful Mind tells a moving story and offers a remarkable look into the arcane world of mathematics and the tragedy of madness." ( New York Times Book Review)
"Nasar tells a story of triumph, tragedy, and enduring love." ( Library Journal)
All stars
Most relevant  
brilliantly researched, written, and narrated.
aside from several technical glitches in the audio throughout (occasionally noise, paragraphs being repeated, nothing too distracting don't worry) this recording of the book is amazing and very well performed.
I studied the works of John Nash while studying mathematics and evolutionary biology and I always loved the film based off this book, but I had no idea the kind of life he has actually lived. This book was an absolute eye opener and it's well worth a read/listen.

the iceberg below the movie

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John Nash’s story is certainly interesting. However, the book contained a few repetitions ie would have profited from a final review before making it available on Audible. This made an an otherwise good performance somewhat less enjoyable.

Great topic, interesting man

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Absorbing, fascinating, and pulls no punches. Brave too, given that the main protagonist and many other people discussed - warts and all - were alive at the time of publication and many are alive today. One thing I found a little off was the sense of homosexuality is being considered something of an aberration, although in fairness this could relate to the era being described and also the time this was written - though I don't think either of these fully cover the experience. Not to detract from the big picture though, this is a literary masterpiece. The sensitivity and detail with which paranoid schizophrenia was described, was palpably and viscerally immersive. To the performance, also very exceptional. The narrator's tone is expressive, intimate, yet still not invasive or intrusive. With just enough color to readily distinguish the key characters. Loved it!

An insightful, thought-provoking masterpiece

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The movie was great, deservingly got four Oscars and yet it covered about 5% of the book and its story. That about sums it up for me how awesome the book is.

Absolute masterpiece

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